Country Club rezoning plan advances

City Council expected to set public hearing

Plans for the Country Club of Tuscaloosa call for apartments or condos to be built in the area that now houses the driving range. But a plan going before the city's planning commission on Wednesday seeks a zoning change that could allow single family residents to be built elsewhere on the course. Developers say they don't have plans to do that but some people in the neighborhood are concerned that it could affect the neighborhood and their property values.

Robert Sutton | The Tuscaloosa News

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

Published: Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, April 1, 2013 at 11:58 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | A request to rezone the Country Club of Tuscaloosa will come before the Tuscaloosa City Council for the first time tonight.

Plans to rezone the Country Club, which now is zoned for residential use, were endorsed in January by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, but the matter took until now to reach the City Council.

The reason is that the legal description that created Tuscaloosa's oldest active country club, built in 1920, did not meet current standards, said Al Cabaniss of Cabaniss Engineering, the civil engineering firm working on a project to redevelop the land. Cabaniss said the City Council requires accurate boundary descriptions to authorize rezoning.

The City Council tonight is expected to set a public hearing on the rezoning with a proposed date of April 30 being mentioned. No City Council vote will be taken until the public hearing is held.

Cabaniss said KC LLC, the development company behind the project, is requesting three zoning changes that will allow the residential property to transition from single-family, detached housing to multifamily residential buildings.

Based on an agreement with nearby property owners, a strip of the 90-acre site that is closest to Country Club Drive will remain as R-1 zoning, which allows building single-family homes.

From there, the land will transition to RD-2, a new single-family residential zone that was created as part of the Tuscaloosa Forward process.

That zone, if approved by the City Council, will give way to a new Riverfront Development District zoning, which Cypress Inn operates within now, and an RM-3 zone, the multifamily zoning that also was created during the Tuscaloosa Forward redevelopment planning process.

The new zones “make a lot of sense and give the neighborhood a lot more protection,” Cabaniss said. “You've got some local developers in this who really want to do a nice job, and it really is exciting for ... that end of town, the neighborhood and the country club.”

KC LLC also includes private investors from outside Tuscaloosa. They include some of the investors who backed other Tuscaloosa developments including the Midtown Village shopping center and apartment development on McFarland Boulevard.

The sale of country club property is contingent on KC LLC getting the necessary city approvals for the development. Initially, KC LLC plans to build 180 apartment and condo units mostly where the country club's driving range is now and in an area next to the tennis club, which the country club has sold.

The units would have one to three bedrooms and would be marketed to professionals and families. The developers also would build roads to the development and other access points linking to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the railroad trestle, the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk recreational trail.

“It truly makes it walkable from here to all those amenities,” Cabaniss said. “This is a pretty neat project.”

The plans include keeping the 18-hole golf course for now, and Cabaniss said the course will be fully surveyed should the rezonings be approved and the sale go through.

From there, the developers will decide on whether to retain the full golf course, reduce it to nine holes or keep it as some form of hybrid course between nine and 18 holes.

<p>TUSCALOOSA | A request to rezone the Country Club of Tuscaloosa will come before the Tuscaloosa City Council for the first time tonight.</p><p>Plans to rezone the Country Club, which now is zoned for residential use, were endorsed in January by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, but the matter took until now to reach the City Council.</p><p>The reason is that the legal description that created Tuscaloosa's oldest active country club, built in 1920, did not meet current standards, said Al Cabaniss of Cabaniss Engineering, the civil engineering firm working on a project to redevelop the land. Cabaniss said the City Council requires accurate boundary descriptions to authorize rezoning.</p><p>The City Council tonight is expected to set a public hearing on the rezoning with a proposed date of April 30 being mentioned. No City Council vote will be taken until the public hearing is held.</p><p>Cabaniss said KC LLC, the development company behind the project, is requesting three zoning changes that will allow the residential property to transition from single-family, detached housing to multifamily residential buildings.</p><p>Based on an agreement with nearby property owners, a strip of the 90-acre site that is closest to Country Club Drive will remain as R-1 zoning, which allows building single-family homes.</p><p>From there, the land will transition to RD-2, a new single-family residential zone that was created as part of the Tuscaloosa Forward process.</p><p>That zone, if approved by the City Council, will give way to a new Riverfront Development District zoning, which Cypress Inn operates within now, and an RM-3 zone, the multifamily zoning that also was created during the Tuscaloosa Forward redevelopment planning process.</p><p>The new zones “make a lot of sense and give the neighborhood a lot more protection,” Cabaniss said. “You've got some local developers in this who really want to do a nice job, and it really is exciting for ... that end of town, the neighborhood and the country club.”</p><p>KC LLC also includes private investors from outside Tuscaloosa. They include some of the investors who backed other Tuscaloosa developments including the Midtown Village shopping center and apartment development on McFarland Boulevard.</p><p>The sale of country club property is contingent on KC LLC getting the necessary city approvals for the development. Initially, KC LLC plans to build 180 apartment and condo units mostly where the country club's driving range is now and in an area next to the tennis club, which the country club has sold.</p><p>The units would have one to three bedrooms and would be marketed to professionals and families. The developers also would build roads to the development and other access points linking to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near the railroad trestle, the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk recreational trail.</p><p>“It truly makes it walkable from here to all those amenities,” Cabaniss said. “This is a pretty neat project.”</p><p>The plans include keeping the 18-hole golf course for now, and Cabaniss said the course will be fully surveyed should the rezonings be approved and the sale go through.</p><p>From there, the developers will decide on whether to retain the full golf course, reduce it to nine holes or keep it as some form of hybrid course between nine and 18 holes.</p><p>Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0200.</p>